Etihad Airways and Alitalia codeshare

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, and Alitalia, Italy’s leading carrier, will offer enhanced connections between Abu Dhabi and three of Italy’s biggest cities next year, with combined double-daily flights to Milan and Rome, and a new daily service to Venice.

Alitalia to triple service
frequency between Italy and Abu Dhabi in March 2015 with new daily services
from Milan and Venice, with Etihad Airways codesharing on both routes.

Next stage of codeshare
expansion will include 15 of Alitalia’s domestic routes from Rome Fiumicino Airport, offering travellers
even more choice and convenience from next year.

The two airlines signed a major codeshare expansion this week, which
subject to government approval, will result in Etihad Airways placing its ‘EY’
code on Alitalia’s new daily service between Venice and Abu Dhabi. The flights
launch on 29 March 2015 using an Airbus A330-200 aircraft with 20 Business
Class seats, 17 Economy Plus Class seats, and 213 Economy Class seats.

In addition, the ‘EY’ code will be placed on Alitalia’s upcoming daily
service between Abu Dhabi and the global fashion capital Milan, which also
launches on 29 March 2015, and will be operated using a Boeing 777 aircraft with
30 seats in Business Class, 24 seats in Economy Plus Class, and 239 seats in
Economy Class. The flights will combine with Etihad Airways’ popular daily
service between the two cities to provide travellers with a convenient double-daily
frequency.

Both airlines already codeshare on each other’s daily services between
Abu Dhabi and Rome, and subject to government approval, Etihad Airways will
codeshare on 15 of Alitalia’s domestic routes from Rome Fiumicino Airport next
year, offering extensive access to and from the country.

The codeshare agreement was expanded a week after Etihad Airways and
Alitalia received merger clearance from the European Commission for a proposed
strategic partnership, under which Etihad Airways will acquire a 49 per cent
stake in the Italian national carrier.

James Hogan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Etihad Airways,
said: “Our codeshare agreement with Alitalia was initiated over four years ago,
and the partnership has developed into a resounding commercial success.
Importantly, we are also providing business and leisure travellers with
enhanced, and soon to be unmatched, depth and breadth into and out of Italy.

“We are delighted to build on this success with the inclusion of
Alitalia’s daily flights from Milan to Abu Dhabi, which complements Etihad
Airways’ own daily service between the two cities. In addition, by codesharing
on Alitalia’s new Venice service, we will offer access to one of Italy’s most
popular tourist destinations for the first time, with strong demand expected
not only from the GCC region, including the UAE, but also Asian markets such as
China, Japan and Korea.”